Name: Sue B
Reference: Matthew 5:1-12
Quote: Col. IV (P6) ,,,establish in his heart respect for the precepts of God; it is a spirit of meekness, of patience, generous compassion, eternal goodness, intelligence,....
Date: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Time: 20:35:37
This text carried the flavor of the Beatitudes. Further, in Matthew's account, Jesus promises, "great is your reward in heaven." In the Rule of the Community, there is "...eternal enjoyment with endless life...and a crown of glory with majestic rainment in eternal light" - sounds like a pretty great reward to me...
Name: Dave B
Reference: Mat. 7:1, John 8:7
Quote: Col. VIII, 21-25. [Any one of them] who breaks one word of the law of Moses . . . He cannot judge anyone and no one should ask his advice for two whole years.
Date: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Time: 20:09:11
A very high, if not impossible standard is set for those who presume to make judgments. Although it is unlikely that this can be taken literally, still it calls to mind the injunctions about judging not lest ye be judged, and let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Name: Sue Kaplan
Reference: Romans 1:19 -24
Quote: Col III 18-26
Date: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Time: 19:21:35
there is a significant parallel here between the good and evil in man. The Romans passage dwells more on the evil than the good, but the parallel is clearly there.
Name: Gary
Reference: Matt. 18:15-20
Quote: Rule of the Community p.9 Col. VI verse 1ff
Date: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Time: 18:06:07
When I first read The Rule of the Community, I was taken by the parallels and similarities with the 6th century Rule of St. Benedict. As for comparison to the New Testament, there is strong correlation with the discourse concerning discipline among followers of Jesus as found in Matthew.
Name: Steve
Reference: Mark 12:29-31 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Quote: (verses 1-3 from Community) "..in order to seek God with all one's heart and with all one's soul; in order to do what is good and just in his presence, as commanded by means of the hand of Moses and his servants the Prophets; in order to love everything." (And from verses Col. IV:3-4) "....it is a spirit of meekness, of patience, generous compassion, eternal goodness, intelligence, understanding, potent wisdom, which trusts in all...."
Date: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Time: 17:06:57
Right off the bat from the beginning of our reading, the verses reminded me of the passage in Mark where Jesus is speaking of the greatest commandment, to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."
The second passage from our reading used similar vocabulary compared to what we find in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." Even thought the words aren't exactly the same, both passages include a "laundry list" of similar words.
Name: Deb
Reference: Matthew 18: 15 & 16: 15. If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Quote: Col. V:24B-Col. VI:1 Each should reproach his fellow in truth, in meekness and in compassionate love for the man. No-one should speak to his brother in anger or muttering, or with a hard [neck or with passionate] spiteful intent and he should not detest him [in the stubbornness] of his heart, but instead reproach him that day so as not to incur a sin for his fault. And in addition, no-one should raise a matter against his fellow in front of the Many unless it is with reproof in the presence of witnesses.
Date: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Time: 16:01:53
Similar ideas here--when you live in community with others, whether in the world or the church or I imagine in a monastery-type community, it is important that you maintain integrity in your relationships. So many problems in our current-day churches could be avoided if we dealt with our interpersonal problems in a Biblical manner instead of gossiping to one another or festering feelings of ill-will against someone instead of dealing with them openly and honestly.
Name: David G
Reference: Matt 26:26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples and said 'Take eat; this is my body."
Quote: And when they gather at the table of community......no-one should stretch out his hand to the first fruit of the bread and of the new wine before the priest, for he is the one who blesses the first fruit of bread and of the new wine and stretches out his hand towards the bread before them. Afterwards the Messiah of Israel shall stretch out his hand towards the bread. And after, he shall bless all the congregation of the community ... The Rule of the
Congegation, Col II, 17 - 21
Date: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Time: 12:05:50
In the Rule of the Congregation it is the priest who blesses the bread and the wine. At the Last Supper it is Jesus who blesses the bread and the wine. Jesus is called the High Priest in Hebrews. Was Jesus' blessing of the bread and wine perhaps symbolic of his acting as a priest? Also in The Rule of the Congregation the Messiah stretches his hand out towards the bread and then blesses all the congegation. In the Last Supper it is Jesus who breaks the bread and gives it to his disciples. Perhaps symbolic of his being the Messiah?
Name: Ann
Reference: Hebrews 9: 12-14
Quote: rule of the Community, col. lX 3 " When these exist in Israel in accordance with these rules in order to establish the spirit of holiness in truth eternal, or order to atone for the fault of the transgression and for the guilt of sin and for the approval for lthe earth, without the flesh of burnt offering and without the fats of sacrifice-the offering of lips in compliance with the decree will be like the pleasant aroma of justice and the correctness of behavior will be acceptable like a free offering.
Date: Monday, October 30, 2006
Time: 17:56:42
Both passages speak of atonement for the faults of transgressions and the guilt of sin. Hebrews discusses the Sacrifice of Christ as the one true death that atones for the sins of humanity. The rule discusses the atonement without the "flesh of burnt offerings and the fats of sacrifice." The rule undertakes to show men how to separate themselves from men of evil and obey the law until the prophets come and the Messiahs approach.
Name: Eric R.
Reference: Romans 8:30
Quote: Rules XI:7 "To those whom God has selected he has given them an everlasting possession"
Date: Monday, October 30, 2006
Time: 10:16:16
The concept of election plays an important role in the Qumran Community Rule--as one would expect in a movement that emphasized separation. Community members must elect themselves into the community (voluntary self-election), must be elected by existing members of the community through a very stringent testing process, and must be elected by God. Early Christians felt many of the same pressures. They too were a community apart, (1) self-electing, then (2) elected (accepted) into the Christian community, and then on the strength of that faith and commitment, were (3) self-evidently God's elect. Paul's words, "those whom he [God] predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified..." would have been at home in the Community Rule.
Name: Er
Reference:
Quote:
Date: Monday, October 30, 2006
Time: 10:04:01
Name: Michael Kasevich
Reference: John 8:12 "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Quote: III 20 : "All the children of righteousness are ruled by the Prince of Light and Walk in the ways of light, but all children of justice are ruled by the Angel of Darkness and walk in the ways of darkness."
Date: Sunday, October 29, 2006
Time: 20:28:52
In both writings, there are images of Walking in the Light of God. Righteousness and justice are apart from each other, and both writing use the image of Darkness to symbolize being apart from God.